Monday, June 29, 2009

Brent – I don’t know if you have seen the commercial on TV lately about Elder Abuse. It’s where a lady is giving a young man some money, and then he reaches in and takes all of it. The liberals should make an ad on Elder Abuse, and show Flaherty or Harper reaching into the walnut and taking out $38 Billion Dollars from seniors across the country. It makes me mad every time I see that ad and think how Flaherty and Harper have abused Elders just so they can get political contributions from the large insurance corporations.

In my own case, I used to put RRSP money into London Life, or one of such like rip offs. Then I discovered Income trusts. When the financial planner calls from London Life to see me every February, I say “why should I put money in with you, when it will only return 7% if I can invest in and income trust and get 15%? He hasn’t got a nickel from me the last 2 years. I just don’t know what I am going to do after 2010. Superior Propane has already converted to a Corp, and are still paying 15%. Extendacare exe.un I think is treated differently because it has a stake in US nursing homes, and it still pays around 15%. I detest these bums that have made so much uncertainty and Ignatieff has had Harper by the short and curlies twice in the last few months, and he still does not force Harper to repeal his income trust policy. What a joke.

Mike G.

Mike:

I find that $3 million ad campaign to be as offensive and infuriating as you do, since it is completely disingenuous.....as if to suggest that the Harper government cares about seniors! Plus the ad is completely done in reverse, as the abuses are taking place in total daylight with the observer secreted away inside their home peering out from the Venetian blinds.

Come to think of it, this is more accurate than I realize it, as the theft of trust investors took place in complete daylight and hidden from the broader public by the press (hidden behind the Venetian blinds). Just couldn’t get Canada’s “brave” journalist to report on this massive rip off of Canadian seniors with any sense of honesty, morality or sense of professional duty. I think Iran is looking for more reporters, just like them.

Meanwhile we have the self-interested workers at the Globe and Mail striking over.....of all things......reductions to their pensions!

3 comments:

That is why the income trust debacle was so unique in a country that will travel thousands for miles to save women & children from the real threat of the Taliban but do nothing to protect it`s own citizens.

It appears that the Afghan people are more deserving of our protection than the folks here in this country.

"Domestic people abuse" occurred on Oct 31st 2006 with barely a peep.

It was like we deserved it or something.

This is the same as saying the older lady in the video deserved to be ripped-off by her son or grandson just because she had lots of money making it a "it does not matter" issue.

Even the American`s who invested in trusts are protected somewhat as at least they are allowed to sue for their losses.

Democracy in Canada is all screwed-up & is all but lost.

Is Iggy the man to bring the power back to the people or will he just prove to be another in a long line of power grabbers.

In this case the elder abuse is also abuse of Canada. Senior Canadians have always been savers and investors. The Harper/Flaherty tag team has damaged the Canadian equity market and eliminated or reduced investment opportunities for individual Canadians while at the same time giving tax freedom to foreign buyouts.

In the fullness of time all this will come to light. But what are we going to about it now?

My family has been investing in income trusts for 10 years now, mainly oil trusts in the beginning.

Then in business trusts, in which I was a healthcare consultant on one trust conversion. I was involved in the business not the conversion or investment banking side.

Flaherty gambled wrong, he thought private equity would silence all the upset income trust investors. His gamble was that the private equity and the endless access to cheap leveraged capital would takeover the trusts at a nice 20 to 40% premiums.

Then our grandmothers and moms would stop their complaining and the pension plans would stop their complaining and be allowed to takeover our nice business trusts at a less of a premium.

Well that gamble by Flaherty rolled a two and a four which adds up to his IQ for him and his clan, the cheap money ended and the trusts were trashed or taken under in some cases, like Terranet.

EVENTS

Income Trust Halloween VigilThanks to all who participated in both the Ottawa and Calgary vigils to mark the anniversary of the announcement.

WE"D LIKE SOME ANSWERS

As you well know, the ‘income trust thing’ has grown beyond the
question of whether fair taxes are paid on income from trusts. It’s
become a giant dirty snowball, and as it rolls forward it accumulates
more and more bulk. There are so many unanswered questions. Let's list a few and invite our "Accountable" government and our free press to provide some much-needed answers.

It is said “Trusts are inefficient use of capital. Why?” Two
related questions are ‘Whose money is it, anyway?’, and ‘Do Canadian
investors have a free and efficient market?’

How can information that is already in the public domain at SEDAR
make for a state secret? How could such information be used to harm
the Canadian national interest? And who would cause the harm?

Why won’t the Canadian media investigate the falsehoods and
misrepresentations told by the Minister of Finance to a committee of
Parliament? Was the Minister in contempt of Parliament?

Why won’t the Canadian media report (a) government tax revenues
gained from BCE in 2006 when BCE was a corporation to (b) government
tax revenues that would be gained in 2007 from BCE, if BCE had been
allowed to proceed to a trust, and (c) government tax revenues that
will be gained in 2007 from BCE, when BCE ownership has been carved
up as 45% foreign ownership and 55% large Canadian pension fund
ownership?